The carrying of money and valuables has always created a problem. The problem is especially acute in the case of women whose garmets often are devoid of pockets. Carrying money and valuables in purses creates vulnerability to loss and theft.
Heretofore, special arrangements for carrying money and valuables on the persons of women has been relegated to the use of belts or other carrying devices intended for securing beneath the outer clothing. Access to the money and valuables when desired is difficult or impossible when in public or in the company of other persons.
Some men's belts having pockets for carrying money or valuables are intended for wearing on the exterior clothing. Those belts are of a size which restricts the nature or amount of materials which may be concealed in the belts. Moreover, the belts must be removed before removing or adding concealed contents. Awkwardness and vulnerability attend the storing or retrieving material from men's externally worn money belts.
Collections of money belts are found in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in Class 224, Package and Article Carriers, subclasses 229 (money belts), 228, 227 and 224 and in Class 2, Apparel, subclasses 311 and 312.
Examples of U.S. patents found in those subclasses are:
U.S. Pat. No. De. 29,490, PA1 U.S. Pat. No. De. 261,196, PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 1,289,186, PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 1,418,371, PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 2,004,412, PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 2,312,808, PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 2,351,158.
The money belts shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. De. 29,490 and De. 261,196 are not intended to look like ordinary articles of clothing and the pockets are not concealed.
The money belts shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,289,186; 1,418,371 and 2,351,158 do not appear as normal articles of clothing. The belt shown in U.S. Pat. No. 1,418,371 is intended to be worn under clothing. The belt shown in U.S. Pat. No. 1,289,186 requires awkward opening and sliding and revealing of the nature of the belt during its use. U.S. Pat. No. 2,351,158 is intended not to conceal the nature of the belt but rather to conceal the additional pockets within the belt. The men's belts shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,004,412 and 2,321,808 have restricted pockets and require the removal of the belt before opening the pocket.
A need persists for a money belt, especially a belt for women, which can be worn outside the clothing, which can conceal money and valuables while concealing the special nature of the belt and which is easy to use without removing the belt from the person.
A fashionable ladies belt intended for wearing on the outside of the clothing has relatively wide side and rear portions and a narrow closure portion, which may be tied, buckled or otherwise fastened. A pocket is constructed on the inside of the belt so that it overlies a side of a wearer. The pocket extends the full vertical dimension of the belt and has a horizontal dimension of about four to five inches. An inward opening near the top of the pocket is closed by a zipper.
The fashion belt of the present invention is constructed to make the belt lie comfortably around the waist of the wearer. The belt is constructed so that its drape conceals the nature of the belt and conceals the pocket and articles stored within the pocket. Without removing the belt from the person of the wearer, the upper portion of the belt may be slightly bent outward to provide access to the slide fastener. When the slide fastener is slid, one may reach within the inner pocket to remove or add articles. The pocket is constructed in such a manner that one may access the entire inner area of the pocket with a normal comfortable maneuver during which others may not be aware that one is reaching within a pocket within a belt.
The particular construction of the belt keeps the upper edge of the belt tight against the body of the wearer except when a hand of the wearer is thrust under the belt to access the pocket.
The particular construction of the belt provides a draping of the belt around the body so that the belt creates its own contours while following the contours of the body so that the pocket is concealed within draped contours of the belt which appear normal.
In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the belt is cut with a downward curvature which forms a generally crescent shape when the belt lies flat and which forms a generally truncated conical shape when opposite ends of the belt are jointed together. Opposite lateral edges of the pocket are cut and attached to the belt in such a manner as to follow radii of upper and lower curvatures of the belt and to line lines which project to an imaginary apex of the truncated cone when opposite ends of the belt are connected. The pocket is free from medial potions of the belt to permit normal draping of the outer facial area of the belt. Upper and lower edges of the pocket are contoured similarly to contours of the belt to conceal the pocket within the belt and the upper and lower edges of the pocket are positioned in the inward turned upper and lower edges of the belt and are secured to the belt by the same bonding and stitching which secures the rolled edge to itself. Thus, the pocket is not apparent when viewing the belt.
Parallel stitches which extend between opposite ends of the belt provide the major longitudinally stability of the belt. In the preferred embodiment, the parallel stitching between ends of the belt is positioned closer to an upper edge of the belt than the lower edge of the belt. The slide opening in the pocket is positioned above the parallel stitches so that the slide opening may be concealed in the natural drape of the belt.
Belt apparatus of the present invention has a decorative facial shell of soft pliable leather having curved upper and lower edges and inward tapered first and second opposite ends. A pocket has upper and lower edges curved similar to upper and lower edges of the belt. In a preferred embodiment, lateral edges of the pocket are generally perpendicular to upper and lower curvilinear edges at positions of intersection therewith. Preferably the pocket is formed of an outer face and a backing stitched togehter along opposite lateral edges. In the preferred embodiment, the outer face of the pocket has an elongated opening spaced slightly downward from the upper edge. A slide fastener is positioned inside the opening and is stitched to the opening. Upper and lower edges of the belt are folded inward about upper and lower edges of the pocket and stitches secure the inward folded position of the edges of the belt around the lower edges of the pocket.
In preferred embodiments the pocket is mounted in a side portion of the belt.
Preferably, a second pocket is mounted in the belt in an opposite side portion of the belt.
A preferred embodiment of the belt has parallel stitches extending between the first and second opposite ends generally parallel to upper and lower edges and closer to the upper edge than the lower edge for preventing stretching of a mid-portion of the belt and promoting desired drape of the belt when worn.
Preferably the belt forms a generally crescent shape, and the lateral edges of the pocket generally lie along radii of the curvilinear upper and lower edges.